Will deepfake AI content influence the 2024 election?

technology

by S.W.N.S.

A recent poll found that nearly half (43%) of American voters believe that AI-generated content will negatively impact the outcome of the 2024 election.

A survey of 2,000 registered U.S. voters found that not only are people more pessimistic about a world of digital politics riddled with deepfakes, but also that they prefer AI-generated content to human-created content. It became clear that it was not possible to distinguish between

As part of the study, respondents were asked to distinguish between AI-generated images and human-generated images, and the majority misidentified all AI images as human-generated.

On average, only a third (33%) of respondents were able to correctly identify an AI-generated image.

The comparison between AI audio and human voice was not very encouraging. When an audio clip containing an AI voice was played, a fifth of respondents (20%) were unsure whether it was a human or an AI, and 41% said it was an AI. believed that the voice was a real human.

The survey, commissioned by Yubico and conducted by OnePoll in partnership with Defending Digital Campaigns, found that media outlets are being negatively impacted by deepfakes (AI-generated content intended to mislead), according to respondents. The number one category was found to be politics.

More than three-quarters (78%) are concerned about AI-generated content being used to impersonate political candidates or spread misinformation, and 45% are “very concerned” about the issue. “I am concerned about this,” he said.

Almost half of respondents (49%) are likely to question whether political videos, interviews, and online ads are real or deepfake content.

Seven in 10 (70%) are also concerned that real, truthful political information will be lost among online misinformation.

“In addition to the threat of AI and deepfakes spreading disinformation, 85% of respondents are not very confident that their personal information will be effectively protected by political activities,” Yubico said David Treece, vice president of solutions architecture at .

“This can have a negative impact on campaigns. When confidence in a campaign is lost, voters may avoid engaging in the electoral process, such as withholding donations, or even not voting for a candidate. Because it can.” Candidates should take the appropriate steps to protect their campaigns and, more importantly, build trust with voters by implementing modern cybersecurity practices such as multi-factor authentication. That is essential. ”

Respondents said their biggest concern about cybersecurity during the 2024 election period is that politicians they support could be successfully hacked and spread misinformation or opinions (24%); said that activities in general do not take cybersecurity seriously enough (24%).

To remedy this, registered voters are saying campaigns and candidates are taking precautions to prevent their websites from being hacked (42%) and using strong security measures such as multi-factor authentication for their accounts (41%). , hopes to create cybersecurity protocols and staff. Training (38%).

Only 15% of people have high confidence that political campaigns are effectively protecting the personal information they collect.

In fact, more than two in five respondents (43%) say they have shared personal information with a company or organization that has been hacked.

Additionally, of the 60% of registered voters who donated to a political campaign, 42% do not complete their donation transaction online due to concerns about transaction security and privacy.

Almost a third (30%) doubt whether campaigns are meeting expectations for implementing cybersecurity standards to protect personal information.

Public perception in this area has a significant impact on election outcomes, with 36% of respondents saying their opinion of a candidate would change if the candidate suffered a cybersecurity incident, such as an email hack. did.

42% of people who have donated to a campaign say their chances of donating again would change if their campaign was hacked, and 30% report that this would even change a candidate’s chances of winning votes. There is.

“Political campaigns are targets of bad actors such as nation states, cybercriminals and hacktivists. The risks are even greater given the high stakes in this election year,” Defending Digital Campaigns said Michael Kaiser, President and CEO.

“All campaign staff, from candidates to volunteers, need to understand that they are a target and protect themselves and their campaigns with appropriate cybersecurity tools and technology. Entire campaigns can go off track and valuable time is wasted as the clock ticks down to Election Day. As this important poll shows, voters believe that campaigns are We have high expectations for how we protect information.”

Research method:

This random double opt-in survey Americans who are registered to vote commissioned by Yubico, in partnership with Defending Digital Campaigns, while February 13th and February 18th, 2024.Conducted by a market research company One polewhose team members market research group I have a corporate membership in the American Association for Public Opinion Research (Arpol) and the European Public Opinion Marketing Research Association (esomal).